Overtaken
by ThePrimeOne
Summary: "Felix...!" Felix stopped, hand inches from her face. "Help me…!" - In which Felix hears Annette's desperate call for help from her in her sleep, and decides to help.


_Today's dinner is steak and then a cake that's yummy yum..._

Felix groaned, throwing a book onto his bed in frustration. Nothing was going right for him today. Sylvain had dropped his breakfast all over Felix's clothes, Felix retaliating with throwing a piece of toast at his face. After changing into a second outfit, Felix headed for the training grounds, only to be stopped by Byleth who reminded him of their planned teatime. Of course, he couldn't say no, he had, much to his chagrin, agreed to the outing beforehand. After losing track of time, Felix had only realised that he had yet to complete the chores he was assigned to do for the day, leaving almost no time for training.

Worse yet, an incident had occurred at the training grounds, so Seteth and Byleth had it closed for the remainder of the day.

In an attempt to get his mind off the recent events of Gronder Field, Felix had grabbed a book he had been handed to by Ashe some time ago; the aspiring Knight begging Felix to read it, going as far to willingly teach Felix how to pick lock doors and chests as well. As unbecoming such a skill was it was for a Knight to some, Felix couldn't deny the uses such a skill could provide in battle, and ultimately took the lock picking lessons and the book from Ashe.

Felix sat down and began reading, with each and every page his grip on the book tightened, digging up old feelings from years in the past, when Glenn had read him this very story as a child. Though it had been some time since he had heard the story, much less read it; he began to pick up on certain aspects of the characters in the story as being oddly familiar, especially the central male and female protagonists.

_Now it's time to fill my tummy tummy tum..._

Ashe was right. The main character in the story, Faust, was much like him, more than he cared to admit. He was abrasive, rude, stuck up, and all around intimidating but that was all a front for how deeply he cared for his friends and comrades in arms. Just thinking about the story and how it glorified knighthood made him sick, but for him to relate to it so deeply made him want to retch.

On the other hand, the second main character was a young woman by the name of Adreanna, who was a total opposite to Faust in terms of their personality; and yet somehow, despite being total opposites, they were drawn to each other's opposing personality traits early in the story.

_Oh this mountain of sweets and treats I long to eats…_

Felix couldn't help but feel a strange sense of Déjà vu when reading Adreanna's dialogue. As he continued on, it became obvious that she was the epitome of cheeriness and optimism. She wore her heart on her sleeve for all to see, yet hid emotional baggage underneath it all that only Faust could see. She and her father had come to butt heads with each other over various topics, especially with her father's loyalty to the King. It was clear they did not get along well, despite Adreanna's attempts to change it so.

And all her efforts became in vain after her father had almost sacrificed his life for his King, taking a sword wound to the chest. Fortunately, he had barely made it, and had been effectively written out of the story, cast into a deep coma.

Felix grimaced reading the paragraphs that went by. Adreanna's father's injury and circumstances were all too similar too his father's own- the difference being that his father Rodrigue, died. But much like his father's death, Adreanna's father's act was claimed as being selfless, and was praised amongst his peers and colleagues for the life he gave for the Kingdom's sake.

Just like his brother's death was.

And for a moment- if only for a split second, Felix understood the seething, primal rage the boar had once suppressed on a daily basis years ago.

Snapping out of his angered daze immediately, Felix continued reading before stopping at the end of a chapter that caused Felix to stand up in alarm. Faust had approached the dining hall of his liege's castle, feeling the effect of fasting for days to let his squire eat the rest of the provisions on their previous mission from the King. Upon entering the empty dining hall and heading towards the kitchen, Faust's footsteps halted as he heard the sound of a beautiful maiden's voice, singing about a rather odd topic of choice.

Andreanna was singing about the dish she was making, fruit cakes of differing varieties, with some fruit native to Fodlan, and some containing exotic fruits from Brigid, Dagda and Almyra, of which Adreanna had bought from travelling merchants.

She was singing about food.

_Oh stacks of cakes and crumbs and yums…_

"Just like…!" Felix began, his odd sense of Déjà vu from earlier hitting him back harder Raphael's bag of rocks. "This has to be some kind of sick joke…she's just like Annette." Felix threw closed the book and threw it on the bed in frustration before something had occurred to Felix.

Annette's songs had been haunting him the whole day without fail, without him even noticing since Annette had sung for him. And what was worse, before a note even reached Faust's ears in the story it was painfully obvious he was in love with Adreanna.

Felix rolled his eyes at the ridiculous correlation he made and stomped out of his room, book in hand.

_Oh, how I just love to clean. Clean the library room!_

Later that evening, Felix decided to return the book to the library, finding it much too distracting for his own good. Felix's mind was on constant replay be it humming Annette's songs or reciting excerpts from The Book of Faust. It was a never ending cycle of thinking of Annette; no matter how hard he tried, she was constantly on his mind, be through training, in his sleep, no matter how much he tried to suppress her shining presence in his mind, she just became brighter and more beautiful by the moment.

And it was becoming a serious detriment to his performance on the battlefield. Sylvain, Ingrid, and unexpectedly, Mercedes had pointed out to him that the increasing amount of close calls he had in the last few battles were becoming more alarming to his comrades in arm. He was becoming more reckless, and almost died at a few points in time, had it not been for their watchful eye.

_"Then again, I shouldn't be surprised,"_ Felix thought, recalling when Mercedes had asked him if everything was okay. _"She was the one who had been healing me all those times."_

As such, ever since he had asked Annette to sing for him at the greenhouse, he put it upon himself to avoid her. The strange, foreign feeling that had been swelling up in his chest ever since he had heard Annette first sing had become impossible to ignore, and even more impossible to come to terms with- his efforts only ever culminating in him watching her, dumbfounded at how such a beautiful voice and silly songs could put his routine, and his sharp swordsmanship skills into question so easily.

Approaching the library, Felix noticed light reaching out from under the door and into the hallway.

"Hm? Someone's already here," he noted, slowly pushing the doors to the library open. What caught Felix's eye immediately were the multitudes of candles that were lit and placed in various places in the room, lighting it up as if it were the middle of the day. What also caught his attention was a lone figure passed out at a table nearby, their head lying amongst a variety of tomes and other books. Felix raised an eyebrow as he skirted around to get a better view of the person in question.

And unsurprisingly, it was Annette, the marmalade coloured hair was unmistakable; Felix sighed. "She's overworking herself again, as she always does," Felix mumbled, carefully walking over to her. A certain open book caught his eye, but quickly shrugged it off, noticing that the candles nearby were running low, Felix tapped Annette on the shoulder. When she failed to wake up, he gripped her shoulder and shook it lightly; Annette's wonderfully blue eyes fluttering open. The girl sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes.

"F-Felix…? What- why are you here. Wait, where am I…?" Annette stammered, looking around the room. Annette let out a sharp gasp, realising she'd fallen asleep. "O-oh no! I fell asleep, and I didn't even get any more study done!" Annette panicked. "Oh goodness, it's probably well into the morning, isn't it? Oh no, no, no, I haven't even put the books away either...!"

Felix rolled her eyes. "Annette. Relax. Don't worry about it, okay? Just leave the books here and you can put them away tomorrow. If any of the monks complain, just explain to them that I dragged you out of here to get some sleep, okay?" Felix reassured her, Annette sighing before snuffing out one of the candles nearby, leaving it on the table next to her borrowed books.

"If you say so then, Felix," she said, yawning as she stood on her feet. The duo continued to snuff out each of the candles around the room before there was one left, Annette motioning for Felix to follow after her. Felix walked towards her before realising he had completely forgotten to return the book Ashe had passed on to him. The raven-haired man turned to face Annette, holding out the book for her to see, just as the lone light source in the room began to shift, falling to the ground. Felix instinctively shot out his hands, one grabbing the candle and the other wrapping around Annette's waist as she collapsed to the ground, Felix placed the candle on the ground, turning his attention to the redhead.

"A-Annette?! What happened…?" Felix panicked; quickly shaking his mind of any fears he had when he saw her breathing normally, the poor girl merely being passed out from overworking herself.

"Idiot…" Felix mumbled, wondering why he'd overreacted the way he did, or why his heart had suddenly dropped from seeing her collapse. Picking her up carefully, Felix carried her bridal style to the infirmary nearby, half hoping Manuela wasn't out on one of her… sexual escapades, Felix's face contorting at the idea of doing such a thing.

As Felix quickly discovered, Annette was lighter than he half expected to be- not that he'd ever say that to her, allowing Felix to quietly walk down the hallway and to the infirmary; the only noises that he heard were his own footsteps and Annette's light breathing-

"Father…"

The raven-haired man's head looked down at Annette as her voice emerged from her mouth, Annette still sleeping in his arms.

"Annette…?"

"Father… please… don't go…" Annette quietly cried, recalling that her father was one of the former King's loyal Knights- Gilbert, or Gustav as he had previously gone by. And if Annette's increasing cries for her father to come back became more and more were anything to go by- it was clear he was certainly not the best father, his sense of pride and duty in being a Knight blinding him from caring for his family.

"You're here… come home…"

Felix growled in bubbling frustration, remembering all too well his father's pointless efforts sacrifice to save the Boar Prince and pushing his son to become Dimitri's shield- and not enough of being his father. His death had been praised amongst his peers as being heroic, and the epitome of being a Knight- serving and sacrificing yourself for your liege and the land.

The Shield of Faerghus.

Felix wanted to vomit, but held back for poor Annette's sake.

"Come back… father… mother… I want to be a family…"

He did not know his mother- she passed away when he was too young to remember her. And he no longer had a father at all. Felix thought he should be jealous that Annette still had them- had family, but he couldn't. If anything, he was happy she had a family she could repair.

Because Felix knew that Annette deserved that and so much more.

Felix reached the infirmary doors and carefully knocked the door with his knee, Manuela not answering the door, much to his chagrin. Placing Annette down carefully, Felix pulled out a little tool from a pocket.

"I'll have to thank Ashe later," Felix mumbled as he worked to pick the lock, a loud _click_ indicating he was successful in doing so. Picking Annette back up, he carried her into the infirmary and placed her on one of the beds, pulling the covers over her.

Felix, knowing Manuela would have questions in the morning, dashed to find the flickering candle and brought it back to the infirmary, borrowing a quill pen from Manuela's desk and writing down on two pieces of parchment. Leaving one on Manuela's desk and another next to Annette, Felix turned his back to Annette, a low whimper escaping her lips forcing him to face her again.

"Father… why won't you… come home? The war… it's over," Annette cried, tears falling from her closed eyes. "Someone…"

Felix froze seeing Annette, the hard working, bright and cheerful young woman who sang about the silliest things breakdown in her sleep; as if Felix was breaching her privacy and peering right into Annette's true-self. Annette's crying didn't stop, Felix reaching over to wipe her cheeks that were stained by tears.

"Felix...!"

Felix stopped, hand inches from her face.

"Help me…!"

Though it shocked him to hear her call his name in her sleep, he wiped away her tears without hesitation. Felix silently apologised to her. Seeing the feelings she had been supressing for so long, he forced himself to acknowledge certain feelings of his own that he had been hiding away for the past five years; but Felix knew he was a coward. If he couldn't bring himself to show her at the greenhouse when she sung for him, then how else could he express such feelings to her while she was conscious?

So instead, Felix reached down to wipe away more tears…

And pressed his lips to her soft cheek.

"Of course I will," he whispered, moving away from her beautiful face. Felix stood up and swiftly left the infirmary, one thing on his mind.

Soon, he would be having words with Gilbert.

_Just takes a flash of light and then it all goes boom! A flash and then a big boom!_

Annette's eyes opened slowly, her fingers delicately rubbing her strangely dry eyes. Annette then shot up with a sharp gasp, realising she'd fallen asleep in the library and hadn't woken up in the same place.

"T-the infirmary…?"

"You really should be more careful you know," a familiar voice spoke out, Annette squeaking in surprise, Manuela chuckling at Annette's reaction.

"O-Oh, Manuela. It's you. Of course it is, you work here now," Annette sighed, propping her head against the wall. "Do, um… you know."

"Know how you got here?" Manuela asked, raising an eyebrow. The redhead nodded sheepishly in response.

"You should thank Felix for his efforts. He found you sleeping out in the library and woke you up to get you back to your room before you passed out again," Manuela explained, Annette raising an eyebrow trying to recall when such a thing happened.

"Really? Did that…?"

Manuela shrugged. "Well, that's what this little note here says to be anyway," Manuela said, holding it up for Annette to see. "He left another for you as well. Oh, and don't worry, I didn't read it," Manuela winked, standing on her feet and brushing off her dress. "Anyway. Don't worry about a thing now, will you? All you need is to take it easy and get a good night's sleep tonight okay?!"

Annette quickly nodded, hearing Manuela raise her voice, demanding an answer from Annette. "Y-yes! I'll be more careful next time…"

"Good. Now you can take your time if you want, but get changed and get some, okay? Breakfast is starting in a couple of minutes, and I'm sure Mr. Fraldarius would hate to see you not taking care of yourself," Manuela winked as she disappeared from sight,

Annette, unable to get another word out of Manuela, plopped back onto her bed, swiping a note off the bedside table and scanned her eyes over its contents.

_Annette,_

_I found you asleep in the library last night. I woke you up, but then you passed out again while standing, so I decided to carry you and leave you in the infirmary. Your books in the library haven't been put away, so if any of the monks give you a hard time, tell them I was going to do so for you but forgot._

_Get some good sleep,_

_Felix._

Annette's mind wondered all over the place while reading the letter that confirmed what Manuela stated earlier. Reading the letter made Annette's face blushed as she imagined herself begin carried by Felix, her body curling up against his broad chest…

She shook her head of any lewd thoughts that potentially crossed her mind. She suddenly raised her eyebrows incredulously, remembering that the infirmary door was usually locked at night.

"Might have to ask Ashe about that…" Annette mumbled. Though no sooner as she finished the letter, she leapt out of bed and scurried down the hallway and to the library, her books still laid out in a pile of mess on a nearby table. Scrambling to put her books away, Annette managed to finish just in time as she heard footsteps approaching the doorway. Power walking back to the entrance, Annette instinctively snatched a book off the ground that laid on the ground near the entrance, opening the doors and walking past the monks that occupied the library for most of the day with a bright smile.

Annette looked at the book in question as she walked down the stairs and towards her dorm room.

"The Legend of Faust," Annette read aloud. "If I remember correctly, Ashe said he gave this to Felix after he bought it from a market stall," Annette mumbled, tapping her cheek. "Maybe I'll see Felix at breakfast and give it back to him then, yeah, I'll do that… but maybe…" Annette looked at the cover again, and opened the book to the first page, curious to see if Ashe's claims of Faust being like Felix had any truth to them.

"Annette."

…

"Annette.

…

"Annette!"

The redhead shook in surprise as Sylvain raised his voice at her, trying to gain her attention across from her.

"Ah, sorry, Sylvain, I was so engrossed in this back that I-"

Sylvain threw his head back in light laughter. "No, no it's fine. Actually, I'm kind of curious- what book are you reading?"

"Yes, I'm actually quite curious too," Mercedes chirped next to Annette, admiring the book's rather decorative cover.

"Oh! Annette!" a new voice called out from behind the group. "Is that the Legend of Faust you're reading? Did Felix give his copy to you?"

"Oh, Ashe! Just the person I wanted to see," Annette said with a small sigh of relief. "You wouldn't happen to know where Felix is would you? He dropped this book in the library and I couldn't find him in his room or at the training grounds, so I decided to give it a read…"

Ashe tilted his head, crossing his arms. "No, I haven't, but it's odd that he isn't in either of those places. Do you guys know where he is?"

Sylvain and Ingrid both shrugged. "That's strange? I recall him yelling at me for waking him up this earlier morning so if he's not in his room…" Sylvain commented curiously, Ingrid resting her cheek in the palm of her hand in thought.

"Well, I did see someone enter the training grounds this morning, even though it's been closed off."

Annette's face went red. "Don't remind me," she groaned.

"Hey, it's not every day you get to live and tell the story of a young lady who totally destroyed the training grounds the way you did," Sylvain laughed, recalling the moment Annette decided to try and combine some of her magic with her swordplay.

"Look, I didn't mean to use Aura, I only meant to use Fire, I swear!" Annette whined burying her face in Felix's book. "Now it's my fault no one can use the training ground…"

Ingrid rolled her eyes at Sylvain, shifting a sympathetic smile towards Annette. "Look, don't worry about it, okay Annette? Seteth and the Professor said they'd find a way to fix it as quickly as possible, didn't they?"

Annette only responded with a sad sigh.

"Well, if I see Felix on my way out, I'll be sure to tell one of the guards to pass on a message to you, Annette," Ashe smiled.

"Oh? On your way out? Where are you going, Ashe?" Sylvain asked, clearly feigning ignorance with the small smirk on his lips.

"Ah… just going to town to buy some supplies is all…?"

"Really? But Ingrid and I went to buy some supplies yesterday," Sylvain said rubbing his chin. "Speaking of yesterday, actually," Sylvain began, his grin becoming wider. "I overheard from Petra that was going into town today as well. You wouldn't happen to be taking her along with you by any chance?"

"Sylvain!" Ingrid elbowed Sylvain, the redhead letting out a welp in surprise as Ashe's face flushed red.

"Look I- I gotta go, I'll see you guys later okay?" Ashe said as he power walked off out of the dining hall.

"My oh my, a date with Petra, hm? Our little brother Ashe is growing up so quickly…" Mercedes said, feigning tears.

Annette and the rest of the Blue Lions laughed at Mercedes' passing joke, only to be interrupted by a knight approaching their table.

"Excuse me- you're Miss Dominic, yes?" the Knight said looking at the shorter redhead.

"Yes? Is something the matter?"

"Well… to be honest, this is not an official message of any sort, but I could not help but overhear earlier that you were looking for Sir Fraldarius, correct?"

Annette's eyes widened. "Yes! Have you seen him?"

The Knight nodded. "Yes. I personally last saw him enter the training grounds with another man… more specifically your father, Gilbert"

Annette immediately stood on her feet. "M-my father? Why…?"

"I do not know the reason why, but from what I could understand from their demeanour," the Knight gulped.

"Is that they intend to have quite the gruelling duel."

Felix was at times, not a morning person, and today was one of those days, even if he had an adequate amount of sleep. Not that he minded of course, Annette's singing in his dreams usually soothed his flared temper, but having Sylvain incessantly banging at his door only made things worse for Felix's morning; especially knowing what was to come during the day if everything worked out.

Felix fastened his sword sheathe to his hip and walked out of his dorm room and into the sunlight that shone over Garreg Mach, ironically enough, much to Felix's amusement. Walking down to the pond, Felix found Gilbert overlooking the pond, following the fish that swum in the shallow waters beneath.

"How pathetic," Felix snarled under his breath. "Still avoiding his daughter as usual." Walking up behind Gilbert, Felix placed a hand on his hip.

"Gilbert."

The redhead man turned around, bowing towards Felix. "Ah, good morning Sir Fraldarius. How may I help you-"

"Why are you here?"

Gilbert blinked. "Why… am I here?" Gilbert asked looking away from Felix and to the pond. "Well, I was contemplating how to use some of my free time today. His Highness and the Professor were quite adamant that I take a break…"

"Good. It'll make things much easier then," Felix glowered, crossing his arms.

"Is something the matter, Sir Fraldarius? You seem quite… upset."

"Cut the shit, old man," Felix growled in anger. "Of course I'm "quite upset". Quite upset with you."

Gilbert narrowed his eyes. "Did I do something wrong, Sir F-"

"Stop calling me that. I'm not my father. And don't give me any of that 'inheriting titles' nonsense either."

Gilbert was quite dumbfounded; to be on the receiving end of Felix's anger, anger that seemed all too familiar. Gilbert sighed and turned his back to Felix.

"Don't turn your back…!"

"If this is for some reason about your father's death, then I am not the man you are to be discussing that with, nor the one to be taking your anger out upon. I was not there, after all…"

"This isn't about my father."

"Then I have no interest in-"

"Annette."

That was the one word it took for Gilbert to pause mid-sentence, his body tensing up at the name reaching his ears. Gilbert turned back around to face Felix, his face deadly serious as his hands dropped from behind him to his sides, balled into fists.

"…I see. Then what is it that you want to discuss in relation to my daughter, Felix?"

"You said you have free time today, yes? Then I want you to duel me at the training grounds. Right now."

"A duel? How is this related to Annette? Do you wish to duel for her hand in marriage…?"

Felix clicked his tongue. As appealing as the idea of marrying Annette was, Felix couldn't let a measly word faze him now. "How this is related to Annette is for me to know and you to figure out- but I will say this: if you don't accept right here, right now, she and I will elope and defect to the Empire."

Gilbert stared at Felix, not flinching at his threats on the surface. While it was clear that Felix's true intentions didn't involve he and his daughter eloping to the Empire, he couldn't help but feel unsettled at possibility of the idea of the Shield of Faerghus and his own daughter defecting to the other side. He could not imagine the stress Felix's closer comrades would feel having to fight Felix, and Gilbert not dare think of the possibility of having to fight against his daughter as an enemy of the Kingdom.

"Annette would never consent to eloping with you and siding with empire," Gilbert replied sternly.

"You say that as if you know your daughter well," Felix shot back. "And somehow, I doubt you do. And besides, who says I have to get her permission to take her with me to side with the empire?

Gilbert's frown became angrier by the second. "Don't you dare suggest such a thing," Gibert jeered. "You… do you have any idea what you are suggesting you would do to my daughter? And even if she did consent to siding with them, you would become enemies of the Kingdom. There would be no turning back."

"Not even for your own daughter?" Felix snapped at Gilbert.

His first instinct was to say yes. As a Knight of the Kingdom, it was his duty to protect the land and its ruling leader; and even as a Knight, his duties would often have to be prioritised over family. Hence why he disappeared and left his family for so long. The instincts that were trained into him wanted Gilbert to say it to Felix's face.

_"Yes. There would be no turning back. Even for my daughter. If she were a detriment to the Kingdom or His Highness, then I would have no choice but to cut her down."_

Gilbert looked down to the ground in shame for having such thoughts.

"Even if… even if Annette were to defect to the Empire, I would do all I could do bring her back to the Kingdom. To convince His Highness somehow to keep her safe from any punishment that would bring her harm."

Felix… was not expecting that response. But even so, he still had Gilbert in a corner. "Then you know what you have to do," Felix responded, his voice lacking any discernable emotion

"I… I suppose you leave me no choice."

"Good. You had no choice to begin with. Follow Me."

The duo silently walked around the dining hall building and towards the destroyed training grounds, walking past unsuspecting Knights who greeted them as they passed by.

"Felix," Gilbert spoke. "Why? Why are you doing this for Annette's sake? What is she to you?" he queried the Fraldarius heir as he tried to keep a low profile.

"What is she to you?" Felix said, repeating his question. "That's what I should be asking you." Felix said mysteriously.

"I- I'm afraid I don't follow," Gilbert responded honestly, Felix snorting with a short burst of sarcastic laughter.

"What is she- what is Annette to you, Gilbert?"

"She is my daughter, of course," Gilbert responded swiftly.

"Oh? Are you sure? You certainly don't act like it," Felix blandly replied.

The redhead went silent. If there was one thing he didn't want to do, it was to admit that he was right- more than Gilbert cared to admit. But he knew that his silence spoke more than a thousand words accusing him of being guilty of being an inadequate father.

"You are correct."

If Felix heard him, he never gave it away as he reached for the large doors to the training grounds and pulled them open. Closing the doors behind him, the duo silently entered the armoury nearby quietly putting all of their armours together, a Silver Sword and shield for Felix and a large silver axe and shield fit for an armoured knight.

Gilbert dragged himself forward out of the armoury, meeting Felix face to-face at the other end of the semi-ruined field.

"Annette caused this you know," Felix said blandly, clearly impressed and mesmerised by the sheer destruction she caused.

"Hmph. I know that much. Don't tell me you're going to stall me here now, are you?" Gilbert asked almost mockingly.

Felix smirked, fist gripped around the hilt of his silver sword. Gilbert raised his shield and brought down his silver axe down to the ground in front of him, his axe ready to meet Felix's sword.

And then, they clashed.

* * *

I'm honestly just as surprised that I managed to get 5k+ words in on a fic... and it's only chapter one.

And yes, this wasn't beta'd, as usual. We die like men.

Feel free to give me any feedback, but other than that have a good one!

P.S. follow me at ThePrimeOne1 on twitter!


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